#it's Sacrifice AU Gurgin

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Sacrifice Gurgin being a sopping wet cat blorbo lmaoooooo

It just hits exactly the right spot at the start of this AU! (I was going to say that he doesn't actually get wet in this one but then I realise that 1. wet Gurgin is a vibe, it doesn't have to be literal and 2. he kind of does, even if it only happens in a nightmare of Zandeh's where he drowns him, oops. Also being soaked in his own blood rather than water is probably valid too.)

#sacrifice au #gurgin #pathetic wet beast who did everything wrong

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Forgive me for my AU ramblings but—

Finding out from @innerchorus how Gurgin was always attracted to... darkness, sort of, and had a tendency to poke things that should not be poked at even before his brother's death... His tendency to question the norms laid before him (how interesting to say “might is stronger than faith” when he's a priest-in-training, eh?), I can't help but wonder what he'd think if or when he finds out about the clan.

Because even if none of the other disciples may know, I've decided that the Master definitely does. Not that they're still alive, no, but their history, the animosity, mages vs sorcerers in the fight against Zahhak, the role the mages played in the sealing of Zahhak (unclear if he'd know about the betrayal and the sacrifice)...

Actually, how should the disciples learn of the history, anyhow? Would the Master tell them? From the start? Or only after their first run-in with a mage, probably Arslan in Ecbatana?

#I have a vibe it's gonna be one sorcerer runs into Arslan and is shook when he finds Arslan's a mage #then the info somehow gets back to the Master #who realizes it's a Mardal mage #but doesn't realize yer THERE'S AN ENTIRE CLAN OUT THERE #he thinks it's just one (1) mage #and then sends a sorcerer to Gorgan to fetch him the comatose Arslan for Magical Purposes #only for the disciple to find out the hard way ohohoho oh NO it's not just ONE mage #anyways forgive me for my ramblings I'll stop now #arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #heroic legend of arslan #winds of wolfsong #wolfpack au #arslan #the master #team zahhak

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Tanaka: He is a fanatic who is drunk on blood. Sacrifice AU (...Puppy AU): He’s a vegetarian now.

(Seriously though I am also having some thoughts about how Gurgin’s addiction to blood and bloodshed mirrors Aghriras’s alcoholism thanks to the use of the word ‘drunk/intoxicated’ here... funny because I headcanon that Gurgin avoids drinking alcohol... but apparently he has a taste for blood instead.)

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #gurgin #aghriras #sacrifice au #evil blorbo is evil #until he isn't

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So while drinking my coffee this morning I was idly browsing a list of Whumptober prompts that happened to cross my dash and uhh.

This one is Sacrifice AU (less so the bolded dialogue prompt, since while there are some moments of confession, nobody thinks they're about to die at the time... but the rest... 👀)

#sacrifice au #gurgin literally defying a god #👀

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Gurgin Backstory Drabble #1

Gurgin creates life for the first time.

The shemul* drew its first breath, and Gurgin’s heart leapt. 

It was wet with blood, fur plastered to its body; clay made flesh. That same blood still dripped from his fingertips, yet in that moment he forgot about the taste of it in his mouth. The lower pair of eyes opened first, glowing yellow, before the lids of the upper set peeled back to reveal red orbs. Its ribs moved like a bellows. His hand hovered above its head. 

Sensing him, its muzzle wobbled questingly towards his outstretched palm until contact was made.

“Good,” said Gurgin’s Master. “Now kill it.”

* shemul = four-eyed dog, one of Zahhak's creatures

This is set not long after Gurgin joins Team Zahhak, so I guess he'd be around 17 or 18. This is technically generic backstory but it feels especially relevant to Sacrifice AU (which is at least in part about putting Gurgin back in the same position and him saying 'actually no I won't do it' 👀). If I do ever write that AU then you can expect an expanded flashback where you'll see Gurgin become increasingly dispassionate about such tasks. And while I don't think he enjoys killing his own creations, it's clear that he does grow to relish bloodshed under other circumstances and will even come to enjoy the taste of blood.

The process of creating creatures such as the four-eyed dogs is at least 90% headcanon as we're never told how it happens in the novels. I think of it as involving a Team Zahhak-style libation, and naturally, it requires blood.

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #my writing #gurgin #the master #shemul #BEHOLD THE ORBS #(maybe i'll make a small info post about the four-eyed dogs soon)

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Just thinking about Gurgin being wrong about love in every single AU I have ever concocted for him.

Interlude / Magical Healing AU: ‘I’m not capable of feeling love’ sdfjggshgh Gurgin you idiot you are developing feelings right now, you just haven’t realised it yet

Mage Hunt AU: ‘it’s not possible for anyone to ever love me’ just plain WRONG and it’s heartbreaking that he believes this is true

Sacrifice / Puppy AU: where he says “people will do a lot for love, or so I’m told” (and he’s not wrong here, but... it’s you, Gurgin. you’re people.)

Royal Treasure AU: ‘he won’t want me anymore when he finds out the truth’ ...the truth being that his lifespan has been greatly shortened and soon he’ll start getting sick with no chance of getting better 😢

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #gurgin #you know i can't go too long without talking about my blorbo #...the fact that he ends up with zandeh in literally every AU too #love how my OTP is now two characters who never meet in canon

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Gurgin for the ask game, pick and choose whatever numbers you want! It's a free-for-all! :D

I probably am gonna ask you about Shapur, Isfan, and Kubard later too because of course I am

I said I wanted to answer every question for him and I wasn't lying. Thank you for enabling me! (Ask game post is here, for anyone else who wants to send something in / reblog it themselves. I have a few others to answer already which I'll get too asap now this post is done, but feel free to send in more!).

My first impression of them

Just one of a handful of evil masked guys. Best mask design by a long way, though.

2. When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like)

I first got curious about him when I read about his backstory and found out about his shared past with Farangis. Honestly I'm not quite sure how I got to the point where I love him as fiercely as I do now, but I know I started shipping him with Zandeh after seeing art by @strangeshipper and it built from there. I don't know. I just find him really interesting.

3. A song that reminds me of them

I know I've mentioned You Are The Blood by Sufjan Stevens before, but also Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You by Gotye (POV: you are being recruited by Team Zahhak).

4. How many people I ship them with

Always with Zandeh. OTP status for sure. I have considered other stuff (such as the Zandeh/Gurgin/Parizad OT3) though. And Hilmes/Gurgin in Mage Hunt AU. And if anyone wants to suggest other ships for him, I'm listening.

5. My favorite ship of them

Zandeh/Gurgin, obvious answer is obvious.

6. My least favorite ship of them

I don't know whether anyone actually ships it but Gurgin/the Master.

I won't lie, it's crossed my mind, but my headcanon is primarily that although the Master was once interested in stuff like that he's been alive for so long that he doesn't really have those sorts of urges any more (overlaps a bit with my thoughts on how the type of magic that Team Zahhak use might affect sexual desire, I don't think I've directly mentioned that before but the basic concept is that it can warp it from its baseline just as it warps their bodies, and results vary from person to person, but it's quite common for it to be either dulled or switched off completely and kind of goes hand in hand with the headcanon that their magic renders them sterile).

Gurgin in Sacrifice AU falls into that category, he doesn't completely lack interest but his focus is dominated by his work for Team Zahhak and by the time the AU picks up his story afterwards he's also underweight and depressed so his sex drive is basically 0. And then he meets Zandeh, and gets better, and realises what it's like to want someone so badly you can't think of anything else, lmao

(My headcanons for Gurgin vary a bit in this respect depending on the AU, though. There's probably an AU out there where his desire never returns or he never had any in the first place but even in that case I still see him and Zandeh as life partners and feel they'd work it out somehow.)

7. A quote of them that you remember

What he says when he's rallying his comrades at the end of Book 7 after their Master is (temporarily...) killed: "Let those who do not respect the Snake King Zahhak boast of their victory! Three years, just three years is enough. At that time, they will fall from the peak of joy to the bottom of the valley of despair. The higher they climb, the further they fall!"

It's primarily the last line that sticks in my mind. If I ever make the Gurgin playlist that I daydream about so often, I'd definitely title it 'The Further They Fall'. Anyway, that's actually the last line of dialogue from the final scene of Book 7 (the last book before the timeskip). A very ominous way for it to end, right?

8. Your favorite outfit of them

He has One Outfit. (He would've worn something different when he was a trainee priest, but there's no description of it. A manga flashback to that time feels much less likely now, but you never know, maybe Arakawa will decide to reveal a little of Farangis's backstory before the end… my one hope…)

9. Your least favorite outfit of them

One Outfit, and I love it so no complaints. But I wish Arakawa had planned to adapt the second half so I could see him getting drenched by the rain in Soleimaniye.

10. Describe the character in one sentence

My blorbo who did lots of things wrong.

11. What’s the first thing you think about when thinking about the character?

Huh, this question made me realise that in the mental picture of Gurgin that first pops up when I think of him, he's not wearing his mask. His hood is up, though, and he's in Team Zahhak black. Maybe it's because I've been thinking about the Magical Healing AU more recently, where his appearance is often like this.

12. Sexuality hc!

He doesn't waste much time thinking about it, but he's mainly into men. However, I do headcanon that he had a crush on Farangis when he was young.

13. Your favorite friendship they have

This question makes me sad because I don't see him as someone who's ever had many friends. I don't think his peers at the temple liked him that much (though honestly I think he probably felt quite indifferent about this). There were a handful of other trainees he spent time with, but his closest friends were probably his brother and Farangis. There's certainly no real evidence of friendship between any of the Team Zahhak disciples.

He deserves more than having one-sided conversations with winged apes! Was that mainly for exposition purposes in canon? Perhaps, but it's also a result of a lack of human contact — the novel makes it clear that the mages feel loneliness as their numbers dwindle, and at that point Gurgin is operating alone and hasn't heard from his remaining comrades for a while.

(He absolutely does talk to Hamkar from time to time in Sacrifice AU before Zandeh arrives on the scene, too.)

14. Best storyline they had

Is there anything about his canon trajectory that I really wanna label 'best' lmao? I mean, I wish things had turned out different for him but I do find his loss of faith / corruption arc interesting. Though that's because I also love to think about a future for him where that all gets reversed.

15. Worst storyline they had

His involvement with what went down in Oxus, probably. Oof.

16. A childhood headcanon

You know, I haven't spent much time thinking about what his childhood was like (aside from Mage Hunt AU specifics that differ from whatever a general /baseline headcanon would be). I guess the only thing I feel certain of is that he and his brother had no other siblings, and whatever region they grew up in didn't have much to offer in terms of creating a better life for themselves, and that's why they ended up at the Temple of Mithra in Khuzestan. (Tentative headcanon is that he grew up in / near the Nimruz mountains.)

Aghriras entered the priesthood because of ambition, and that reasoning makes sense for Gurgin, too (they're azat, freeborn commoners aka the lowest social class above slaves, and if they want to climb above the few opportunities that affords to them then it's either joining the priesthood or proving their merit on the battlefield) but I do think that to a certain extent Gurgin followed his brother.

lmao I can feel a backstory headcanon forming even as I type this.. like, what if their father died or left them when they were young (Gurgin probably doesn't remember him much) and they were raised by their mother, who wanted them to have a better life than she had? She wouldn't have wanted them to face the horrors of war, so she encouraged them to work hard on their education so that they could find their place in the priesthood. Perhaps she, too, had passed away by the time they left for the temple, so at that point they only had each other. I feel like Gurgin didn't have any close family after his brother died.

Oh no Gurgin, are you desperate for recognition from your Master because you never had a father figure? Fuck.

17. What do you think their first word was?

Eh, probably some variation of 'brother' or 'mother' (with the headcanon above). I feel like most first words are… not that interesting.

18. How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc)

Curious and intelligent! Asked a lot of questions. Easily frustrated when things didn't go his way. I imagine at school he had trouble making friends as he both sought approval from his teachers and thought himself superior to others who were not as clever as him, plus he could be impatient with others. (He was, in general, a bit better about all of this at the time he joined the priesthood, but when he's with Team Zahhak all those negative traits are brought to the fore.)

19. The most random ship you've seen people have with them

Well, I'm not sure this really counts but sometimes I'll ask my boyfriend really weird ArSen questions out of the blue, and recently I asked him "give me a Gurgin ship" and usually when it's something like that he'll try and pick something at random that he thinks I won't like… He said Gurgin/Farangis.

(No, he didn't remember that they knew each other. And I can't think of a way this would work but it sure gave me a whirlwind of feelings to think about. The thought of something happening between them because of shared grief, years after they last saw each other? It's so angsty and messy. If something did happen I think Gurgin would feel immensely guilty for it, but I'm not sure about Farangis. I feel like she might be able to compartmentalise it as something that happened that shouldn't have done, and move on. She'd handle it better than Gurgin, at any rate.)

Wait, my Hilmes/Gurgin ship is pretty random I suppose? Think of that as an alternate answer. Zandeh/Gurgin probably qualifies too given that they don't ever meet in canon, but I can't see it that way now, not after spending so much time thinking about them together.

I've also had very vague thoughts of yeeting Gurgin back into the past, but would I ship him with anyone in that circumstance? Eh, not sure.

20. A weird headcanon

I'm sure I have many! The 'he likes hot baths' headcanon is a pretty random one that came from 1. reading that the real Mount Damavand has some pretty nice hot springs near it (which in ArSen verse are probably disgusting bubbling sulphurous poison mud pits but whatever), and 2. the fact that he probably had a bad time during the flooding of the Dark Temple and it amuses me to imagine him enjoying water in a different context? I just want to let him relax from time to time? He works hard, he deserves it.

I want to write a bath scene for him in Interlude (Magical Healing AU). Or I keep thinking about a comedy scene of him at one of Ecbatana's bath houses with a gaggle of bird-faced beasts for company, because it amuses me.

Here's another headcanon: he's pretty bad at archery. It was taught at the temple, but it didn't interest him much and he wasn't that motivated to work on his skills, even though Farangis tried to instruct him. As far as weapons go, later on he uses a Team Zahhak-typical knife, which he wears strapped to a thigh like Farangis. (He still has it in Sacrifice AU! Chekhov's Snake Knife lmao.)

21. When do you think they were at their happiest?

When he was at the temple with Farangis and his brother, before things went wrong. Other than that, he was pretty fucking ecstatic in Book 16 when the Master said that he would be his successor (disregarding the fact that it's because there is literally nobody else left at that point lmao). I'm not sure I believe the Master was ever planning on stepping aside, but whatever.

22. When do you think they were at their lowest?

After his brother's death.

23. Future headcanon

The whole of Sacrifice AU, I guess. Just anything where he makes it out of Team Zahhak and tries to lead a different life.

24. What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone?

I love this question. I wouldn't necessarily know the answer for every character but I do have a headcanon for this for Gurgin, and that is that no matter how vehemently he protested his brother's innocence, a small part of him wondered whether Aghriras really had done it. I don't think he'd ever admit that to anyone (except perhaps to Zandeh in Mage Hunt AU, where Gurgin's backstory adjustment gives him very good reason to hope that Aghriras had killed that particular person). The fact that Aghriras's innocence was later proven only makes it much worse.

25. When do you think they acted the most ooc

I don't think any of his canon scenes are OOC? Is that what this question is asking? I may not like what he does, but none of it feels unbelievable.

26. When do you think they were being "themselves" the most?

Maybe I'm picking this just because it's before he went down a dark path, but I think the conversations he used to have with his brother back when they were at the temple are pretty typical of his true self. The little flashback conversation we get in particular gives the impression of someone who's curious about stuff he maybe shouldn't be, and is attracted to power, but it also shows that he was willing to listen to his brother's guidance. I don't think he'd have ended up with Team Zahhak if his brother had lived.

Otherwise, his Book 16 decisions that get him killed are unfortunately also peak Gurgin, at least in his Team Zahhak era.

27. If they could meet a character from another show/movie/etc, who would be the most fun for them to meet?

Either (or both) of the Devil Forgemasters from Castlevania, 100%.

28. The most unnecessary thing they ever did?

Killing the dog at the temple. Or lashing out and cutting off the hind legs of a winged ape (a creature that is on his side, and under his command!) when his plans started to go wrong in Book 13.

29. How do you think they would be as a parent? (and if they are a parent, how do you think they would be if they weren't?)

Honestly, not great but not as bad as he might think. But it's not something he wants. Thoughts of having a family aren't really on his mind (except for AU instances where he's worried it's something Zandeh might want that he won't be able to provide).

30. The funniest scene they had?

Okay, Gurgin's not actually present in this scene but it's hilarious to me so I'm choosing it: after the winged ape attack on Soleimaniye in Book 13 was thwarted, Kubard and Narsus are discussing what happened. They don't know that Gurgin was the one in charge, but Narsus's opinion is that it couldn't have been Ilterish (the usual commander of the demon army) because Ilterish would've done a better job, lmao. Sorry Gurgin but your inexperience is showing.

Anyway, that's the end of the questions! Not sure how many people are interested enough in Gurgin to make it this far, but like... if anyone does want to talk about Gurgin with me... my inbox is always open...

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #gurgin #if farangis can have a sexy thigh knife then so can he #this post took me ages to write #i went on... so many tangents... #the irresistable urge to keep talking about my blorbo

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Been having thoughts about old ancient and forgotten Parsian gods who fell out of favor as time went on but I can't find the post that inspired this train of thought argh 😭

This is so, so relevant to my interests (Sacrifice AU!) so if you do find the post please let me know!

I'll throw in a headcanon / worldbuilding tidbit of mine for now because why not: Ameretat, the goddess of immortality, was no longer worshipped after the death of Jamshid and the fall of his utopia, and the temples dedicated to her fell into disrepair over the years. (The old abandoned temple that Gurgin ends up staying at in that AU is not one of them, though; it belonged to Mithra and ???)

#sacrifice au #i love to think about stuff like this

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Thinking about fandom daydreaming at work reminded me that I spent an entire shift recently considering Gurgin wearing his hair in a bun (he still has that fringe section though). I generally picture him with hair around shoulder length, but I like the thought of it being longer in Sacrifice AU.

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #gurgin #i think of him a lot #my evil blorbo #i really want to write this story but i don't know if i ever will